Columbia Residential Opens $24M Luxury Seniors Housing

Heritage Senior Residences at Columbia Parc, one of the most highly anticipated projects in New Orleans has celebrated its grand opening in Gentilly, with the first residents expected to move in starting March 2014.

Heritage Senior Residences at Columbia Parc, one of the most highly anticipated projects in New Orleans, has celebrated its grand opening in Gentilly, with the first residents expected to move in starting March 2014.

Located within the Columbia Parc at the Bayou District master-planned community, the 120-unit luxury senior residence boasts community amenities such as a 30-seat movie theater, fully equipped fitness center complete with Wii room, community room kitchen, dining and dance hall, resident’s business center complete with computers and printers, craft room, interior mail room, on-site maintenance, management and leasing office, access controlled parking, garden patio surrounding a porte cochere as well as elevators. The LEED Platinum-certified community features rooftop solar panels, among several sustainable elements.

The 1401 Caton St. project comprises one- and two-bedroom apartments outfitted with energy efficient stainless steel appliances, Energy Star washer and dryer and granite countertops. The senior living community is located on public transport routes and will be within walking distance of a community park as well as a retail area. Residents must be 62 and older.

The senior living community as well as the entire Columbia Parc at the Bayou District project is owned and managed by Atlanta-based Columbia Residential and its subsidiary Columbia Residential Management, a developer, owner and manager of quality affordable and mixed-income housing that often engages local authorities and not-for-profits when creating new communities. According to WWL-TV.com, the senior housing project had a price-tag of $24 million. According to the Times-Picayune, the tenant mix for Heritage Senior Residences, as well as the entire master-planned community, includes market-rate, affordable, low-income and public housing tenants.

Columbia Parc at the Bayou District is being developed on the former site of the Katrina-marred St. Bernard public housing project, by the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO), local non-profit Bayou District, Atlanta-based non-profit consulting firm Purpose Built Communities and Columbia Residential.

According to The Times-Picayune, the goal of the project is to create a cradle-to-college community, which, upon completion will feature 1,325 mixed-income residences, 300 of which will be owned by residents, K-8 school, preparatory high school, YMCA, library, health clinic, grocery store, city-park, resort-style pool, splash park. A learning center and NFL-quality football stadium have already been completed, as have 685 rental units, 80 percent of which are leased by single mothers – one of the main reasons for the heavy emphasis one education within the development. Ground was broken in 2009 and the $440 million project is expected to complete in 2016.